Bollinger makes it work

Brooks Bollinger likely didn't have enough time to think about the pressure situation he entered in the fourth quarter of the Vikings' 20-13 victory over Chicago on Monday night at the Metrodome.

The Vikings trailed 13-12 with the ball at the Bears 8-yard line when Tarvaris Jackson threw an incomplete pass and then limped to the bench area because of leg cramps.

The Vikings took a timeout to enable Bollinger to get a few practice snaps and then sent him into the game facing a third-and-8. Bollinger's assignment seemed simple enough: Hand off to rookie Adrian Peterson.

It turned out to be anything but simple. The play call was for a draw to the left, but Peterson went to the right. The two collided, Peterson grabbed hold of the ball, put one of his array of moves on the Bears defense and went in for an 8-yard touchdown.

"I was still going, 'What the ...,'" Bollinger said when asked about the move. "He just took it and made it happen. Sometimes that's the way you've got to play the game."

So what happened? "I haven't even talked to him enough to know exactly what went on," Bollinger said. "I don't know if I didn't communicate something clearly enough or something just got lost in the call or what happened. I thought he was going one way and he was going the other, and it worked out really."

Said offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell: "We had a miscommunication in the backfield. The thing you always worry about with that is a turnover, running into each other and dropping the football. Fortunately they were able to make the exchange and then he was able to put it in the end zone."

Bollinger, though, wasn't done. The Vikings now held an 18-13 lead, and they sent in a two-point conversion to make it a seven-point lead. Bollinger was asked to run a play he hadn't run in practice in a month.

The veteran was able to sneak up the middle for the two points -- just barely. "My eyes kind of lit up because I thought we had a good look for it," he said. "It got a little closer than I would have thought, but I guess I'm not as fast as I used to be."

Bollinger's two-play night was over at that point. Jackson checked in for the next offensive series.